Red had no idea what kind of internal struggle Marshtomp had gone through over the past five days.
But now—
Marshtomp's IVs had already broken through the Top-tier bottleneck, and its strength had increased significantly. Its training efficiency had improved dramatically as well.
However—
Even though its talent had skyrocketed—
Its tactical weaknesses still remained.
Marshtomp possessed overwhelming power at its level, but lacked effective methods to restrict an opponent's movements.
While this flaw wasn't too obvious in wild battles—
In a formal 1v1 arena, it would become a major disadvantage.
So Red decided—
To design a suitable combat strategy for Marshtomp.
Fortunately, with the Gym's accumulated knowledge, this wasn't difficult.
The strategy came from Songzao Gym's previous generation Gym Leader—Red's grandfather.
A custom-built combo technique specifically designed for the Swampert line.
Though—
Red preferred to call it a finisher.
Its name:
Frozen Hell.
It sounded impressive—
And in reality, it really was.
The technique was built upon Whirlpool, evolving it into a three-stage control system:
Stage One — Whirlpool Control
The basic restraining effect using water currents.
But this alone was limited—
Especially since Marshtomp wasn't a pure Water-type.
Stage Two — Mud Domain
Replacing water with heavy mud.
This drastically enhanced the control effect, making it harder for opponents to escape.
Stage Three — Ice Lock
The moment the opponent is trapped in the mud—
Marshtomp freezes it instantly.
Turning the battlefield into an ice prison and completely eliminating any chance of escape.
Against a target that cannot move—
Marshtomp has a hundred ways to win.
Of course—
It wasn't favoritism.
Red didn't only design a finisher for Marshtomp.
For Castform—
All its potential lay in weather control. It just needed to keep refining that.
After all—
That Champion-level Castform from his father had literally brought down Hunter J's entire airship with a storm.
As for Larvitar…
Red could only figure things out step by step.
After all—
A Larvitar with both Sand Stream and Sand Veil was completely unprecedented.
Even combining Professor Oak's knowledge and the Gym's research—
There wasn't a single reference case.
Let alone creating a custom finisher like Marshtomp's.
So he could only adapt based on Larvitar's combat style and slowly develop something suitable.
At that moment—
A soft, lingering female voice sounded.
The moment Red heard it—
His back started to ache.
Ninetales, still in her fox-eared girl form, wrapped herself around his arm.
"I'm hungry…"
Red took a deep breath.
"Stop—stop! Don't make this sound like some R-rated scene!"
"You just want me to use Viridian Power to replenish your life energy. Don't act like some fox spirit draining people's essence."
Ninetales stuck out her tongue, looking shy.
"But it kind of feels the same… you're still transferring energy into me…"
Red turned his head away in despair.
"If you keep talking like that, I'm not doing it anymore!"
As a side note—
Three days ago, the Champion-level Venusaur fruit had arrived.
After receiving it, Red immediately fed it to Ninetales.
The result—
Her level rose from 50 to 55, restoring her to Gym Leader-level strength.
Combined with the psychic power she had accumulated over centuries—
She was now among the stronger fighters even within the Gym Leader tier.
However—
With this increase in strength came a higher daily demand for life energy.
Red now had to continuously supply large amounts of Viridian Power to her—
To the point where he was starting to feel exhausted.
Still—
Perhaps due to this intense output—
His Viridian Power was gradually becoming strong enough to match her consumption.
Of course—
In a high-intensity battle, he'd likely still be completely drained.
Although Ninetales had regained much of her strength—
Her egg showed no change.
It still retained life—
But showed no signs of hatching.
Red guessed—
It might need to be immersed in Celebi's lake to hatch.
Just as he was having this "perfectly normal" conversation—
Xiaowen knocked and entered.
Her face was slightly red as she muttered:
"Perverted Gym Leader…"
Then she tossed a letter onto the table.
"A letter from Sabrina in Saffron City."
"Another letter? In this day and age, can't people just call?" Red complained.
But he still eagerly opened it.
After all—
No matter how beautiful Ninetales was, she was still… not human.
Red preferred something warm. Something tangible.
Xiaowen quickly turned and left, her ears slightly red.
Clearly—
Hearing only fragments of the conversation, she had completely misunderstood the situation.
Red opened the envelope.
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